January 1, 2011

Isn’t New Year’s Day a wonderful thing? Full of possibility, full of positivity, full of exciting plans for the future. There’s resolutions a-go-go everywhere you look. Eat healthier, exercise more, watch less tv, and all that jazz.

Personally, I’ve never been too keen on resolutions. I prefer New Years plans, instead. There’s less expectations and less stress involved with simply making some solid plans, rather than basing the success of an entire year on whether you manage to eat exactly three more servings of broccoli per week.

My New Years plans include developing some better time management skills (like getting out of bed before 10:30 am) as well as cutting back on the late-night snackies. Nothing too difficult. Although I’m sure you’ll agree that it is very, very hard to resist that canister of French fried onions come midnight. Still, one must overcome these obstacles.

Around La Kocinera, I’ve also implemented some changes. There’s a new commenting system, courtesy of IntenseDebate, which allows you and I to chat more easily, with less pop-up windows and less captcha mumbo jumbo. LinkWithin widgets at the end of each post cleverly point out other snippets that you might enjoy. I’ve also reworked the navigation menu to include a recipe index and a better “About Me” page. Isn’t organization grand?

Update: In less than 12 hours, I was having such a pain with importing and moderating comments with IntenseDebate, that I've returned to using Blogger's commenting system.

Now, that being said, there is one teensy, tiny problem with New Years resolutions/plans…they’re usually not very fun. They may pay off in the long run by improving your health, mood, attitude, lifestyle, etc., but they’re a pain in the beginning stages. Hopping off the couch and onto the treadmill, swapping the gooey cheeseburger for the grilled chicken wrap, and going to bed before the 2 am episode of Dr. Who can bring out the stubborn five-year-old in us all.

Guess which one of those applies to me.

The point is, we need a little encouragement in our plans. Instead of forgoing all yummy things on the planet for the sake of calorie counting, you can enjoy something that’s a little healthy and a little indulgent at the same time. Hence these little cookie gems. They’ve got tons of oats and cranberries, which both definitely reside on the healthy side of the food spectrum. Thanks to their cookie form and maple syrup glaze, they’re also a delicious treat.

Celebrate the New Year, cut yourself some slack, and enjoy!

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies with Maple Syrup Glaze

Recipe adapted from “Maple-Glazed Oatmeal Cookies” from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather

For the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a regular ol’ bowl and whisk, cream the butter, syrup, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until nice and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until well combined. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, oats, and cranberries, mixing well.

Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, drop golf ball sized portions of dough onto the baking sheets, keeping them about an inch apart. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, unless you make abnormally huge cookies like I do, in which case, leave them in the oven for a few extra minutes.

For the glaze: Combine the powdered sugar, maple syrup, heavy cream, and salt in a medium bowl, whisking until well combined. If it’s too thick, add another splash of cream. If it’s too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. If you dip a spoon into it, the glaze should slip off of it thickly, but easily.

Dip a spoon into the glaze and hold it over a cookie, allowing the glaze to drip off the spoon onto the cookie in a gentle stream. Go back and forth across the surface of the cookie in this manner, allowing the glaze to drizzle the top. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. If you prefer, you can also take a cookie and simply dip the top into the glaze.

Hi Koci-Your cookies are gorgeous...printed out the recipe. Love the maple sugar glaze drizzle on them. Yumm!!!...and I do love your purple nail polish!BTW-check out my blog for the $50 gift certificate giveaway. Don't want you to miss out!Happy New Year!... if I didn't wish you one.

I just made these cookies tonight, and I'm telling you, they were truly AMAZING. Super-easy to make, soft, and sweet...though, mine did not look nearly as nice as yours. These have just been added to the "household favorites" list. Congrats!

I made these the other day and they were a huge hit with us :) I actually added in maple extract to the dough aswell as they glaze to achieve an even deeper maple flavor :) I plan to make these again towards the fall :) Thank you!

I really like the pictures you took of these. Cookie pictures are almost always done with them perfectly arranged on a pretty plate, but the way you did your pictures is way more gorgeous than most. They sound delicious, too!